Nation briefs

Suspected kidnapper won't stand trial

SALT LAKE CITY -- The homeless woman arrested along with her religious-zealot husband on charges of kidnapping teenager Elizabeth Smart was ruled incompetent to stand trial Friday and was committed to a mental hospital. Wanda Barzee, 58, will be periodically evaluated and could someday be brought to trial if found competent. Another review was set for April 15. Based on doctors' reports, Judge Judith Atherton ruled that Barzee lacked the ability to assist in her own defense.

Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin endorses Howard Dean

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin endorsed Howard Dean for president on Friday, calling him "the best person to beat George W. Bush" and giving a key boost to the embattled front-runner 10 days before the state's kick-off caucuses. Harkin represents the state's most durable Democratic politician, a four-term senator whose organization can prove a vital asset on caucus night Jan. 19. Dean and all his rivals for the nomination had appealed to Harkin for his support, and the lawmaker said recently that he was weighing whether to choose sides. Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts are challenging Dean for first place in private polls in the state taken in recent days, with Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina trailing.

Kidnapped children reunited with mother

ELLIJAY, Ga. -- A jealous ex-husband accused of killing four people and kidnapping three girls lay in critical condition Friday after shooting himself in the face during a police chase, officials said. The girls were reunited Friday with their mother, Melissa Peeler. Her ex-husband, Jerry William Jones, 31, is accused of strangling their infant daughter, Harley, and shooting her parents, Tom and Nola Blaylock, and sister Georgia Bradley on Wednesday. He then drove off in a stolen SUV with his former stepdaughter, Brittany Phelps, 10, and daughters Brandy Jones, 4, and Tammy Jones, 3, authorities said. The girls were found unharmed when the father was captured Thursday.

Northeast may be in for harshest January on record

BELCHERTOWN, Mass. -- Extreme cold gripped the Northeast on Friday with wind chill readings well below zero. In Syracuse, N.Y., where the wind chill was minus 26 degrees, the school system canceled classes for 22,000 students. The actual daytime high was minus 2. Despite bright sunshine, the temperature in New York City had dropped to 15 by midafternoon. A normal high for the date in Central Park would be 38. The cold was expected to get worse before warmer air emerges Sunday.

Two U.S. soldiers killed in Vietnam War identified

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon has identified and returned to their families the remains of two Navy fliers killed during the Vietnam War. A Defense Department statement Friday said one of the men was Lt. j.g. Robert A. Clark of North Hollywood, Calif. The statement said the identity of the other man was being withheld at his family's request. The two men were flying an A-6A Intruder from the USS Midway when the plane was shot down over North Vietnam's Nghe An province on Jan. 10, 1973, the Pentagon said.

Hundreds of phony credit cards seized in bust

FREDERICK, Md. -- Identity thieves using real names and credit card numbers they got off the Internet created hundreds of phony cards and fraudulent lines of credit with stores to steal thousands of dollars in merchandise, police said Friday. The ring's alleged leader, Jian Ping Wang of Frederick, was jailed and charged with multiple counts of credit card counterfeiting and illegally possessing equipment to produce credit cards. Police arrested Wang, 38, an illegal immigrant from China, in Baltimore County on Wednesday and found more than 200 phony credit cards in his car, according to Frederick County police.

U.S. consumers shrug off mad cow disease scare

CHICAGO -- More than two weeks since the emergence of the first case of mad cow in this country, prompting a widespread ban on U.S. beef overseas, the beef industry's worst fears have not been realized. Burger chains report no impact on sales and investors have returned to beef-related stocks after an initial selloff. Consumer confidence in U.S. beef remains high and statistically unchanged from September, according to a survey conducted Dec. 29 to 30 by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.

U.S. cities to press Congress for budget help

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. -- Congress should preserve or raise federal funding for U.S. cities in areas such as homeland security, housing, education and transportation while letting local governments decide how to spend the money, National League of Cities leaders said Friday. About 25 mayors and leaders from the league of about 1,700 cities began a two-day meeting Friday in Miami Beach to set their lobbying goals. Cities need more leeway from the federal government to decide how to spend limited resources more efficiently, said Charlie Lyons, the league's president and a selectman from the Boston suburb of Arlington, Mass.

-- From wire reports